after his father jeb's latest criticism of president trump tweeting in part, children shouldn't be used as a negotiating tool in this heartless policy. george p. bush and don jr. were friends during the presidential campaign. i'm brooke baldwin. thanks for being with me. "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. a humanitarian crisis turning into a political one for president trump. "the lead" starts right now. the president now says that undocumented immigrants are, quote, infesting the united states. as republican senators scramble to try to fix a political mess that trump created by enactinga any policy resulting in childrens being taken from parents at the border. they call themselves the lucky ones after the most terrifying couple of days of a young boy's life, cnn has a story of how this boy found his father at the border. and plus it is costing you. stocks and your retirement accounts taking a hit as china accused president trump of blackmail and taking his trade

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war threat to a new level. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. good afternoon. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we begin with breaking news in the politics lead. senator republicans sending a message to trump they are not going to stand with him on his new policy resulting in thousands of immigrant children taken from parents at the southwest border. moments ago mitch mcconnell said they are united in ending this practice. >> i support and all of the members of the republican conference support a plan that keeps families together while the immigration status is determined. >> and that would override the new trump administration zero-tolerance policy that took effect in the spring prompting criminal prosecution of every single person app -- apprehended at the border. complete with heartbreaking

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images and haunting sounds of frightened and screaming kids. president trump december pratly trying to regain control of the story. tried to change the conversation to the largest topic of illegal immigration, using some of his darkest language yet. perhaps the harshest rhetoric about this issue since the opening day of his campaign tweeting this morning, quote, democrats are the problem. they don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our country, like ms-13, they can't win on the policy so they use them as potential voters. you notice the word of the dehumanizing word "infest" and part of the politics of fear and division talking about the, quote, death and destruction caused by people coming into this country and suggesting that those of us in the media covering the children impacted by his new policy are helping

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criminals. >> they're fake. they are helping -- they are helping these smugglers and these traffickers like nobody would believe. >> and as if that rhetoric were not enough -- >> democrats love open boards, let the whole world come in. let the whole world. ms-13, gang members from all over the place. come on in. we have open borders. some day they're going to vote for democrats. >> the problem for president trump is that even though 58% of republican voters support his new policy which prompts the children to be separated from family, two-thirds of the overall american people plus many republican lawmakers faith leaders and even laura bush, well they do not. the president and his administration defending this policy have lied and obfuscated and told half-truths about it. falsely blaming the new policy on democrats and falsely denying it exists and they cannot even seem to be able to get on the same page on some major points

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about the policy. for instance, whether separating families and the overall zero-tolerance policy is a deterrent for illegal immigration. here is attorney general jeff sessions last night. >> are you considering this a deterrent. >> i see that -- the fact that no one was being prosecuted for this as a factor in a five-fold increase in four years in this kind of illegal immigration, so, yes, i hopefully -- people will get the message. >> so, yes, zero tolerance is intended as a deterrent said the attorney general but hours before the homeland security secretary seemed offended by the very notion. >> are you intending for this to play out as it is playing out? are you intending for parents to be separated from parents or intending to send a message? >> i find that offensive. no. because what -- why would i create a policy that purposely does that? >> perhaps it is a deterrent. >> no. >> she denied having seen the

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heartbreaking images of children that have outraged and moved so many americans even though it was hear agency that released some of the images. so we assume that the secretary has not heard this audio from pro-publica. [ speaking foreign language ] [ crying ] >> the soubds of a child being taken from her father. the wall street journal conservative editorial board warning republicans that the images and sound and the topic of immigration could cost republicans the majority in the house and senate this november. even some of the president's biggest political allies on capitol hill and elsewhere with turning against him. the president is scheduled to arrive at capitol hill in minutes. we have this story covered from every angle. paula sandoval is live on the

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border. talking to family with children living in the terrifying limbo. jeff zeleny starts us off from the white house. >> reporter: president trump is still pointing the finger at democrats over the crisis at the border. >> democrats love open borders, let the whole world come in. let the whole world. ms-13, gang members from all over the place, come on in. >> but it is his fellow republicans giving him an earful. imploring the administration to overturn the zero-tolerance policy of separating children from parents when apprehended at the border. >> we ought to be doing everything in our power to bring the children together with their parents. so i'm -- i want to pause so we can really approach these things intelligently. >> reporter: senator warren hatch said in the case of family separations, he's wrong. but the president is showing no signs of backing down. telling congress to fix the impasse on immigration. >> we can't let people pour in.

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they've got to go through the process and maybe it is politically correct or maybe it's not. we have to stop separation of the families -- >> reporter: the white house presented conflicting and confusing and misleading questions on what type of bill the president would sign. >> i don't want children taken away from parents. and when you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away. >> reporter: these scarring images broadcast across the country and the world showing children being pulled away from their parentsality t-- parents t border. the department of homeland security saying 2300 children have been detained. it is prompted a near revolt among republicans. >> only congress can change the law. i also recognize that if the president wanted to make modifications. >> secretary, the attorney general and the president, they could move on this tomorrow. >> i think they are scrambling to figure out how to handle this and they are legitimately

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surprised at the pushback. >> ted cruz facing re-election in texas pushing for immediate action. >> all of us who are seeing these images of children being pulled away from moms and dads and in tears, we're horrified. this has to stop. >> reporter: the editorial page of the wall street journal weighing in with a scolding message. are republicans trying to loose the majority in congress this november. we assume not. but you can't tell from the party's internal feuding over immigration that is fast becoming an election year nightmare over separating immigrant children from parents. and the president is plame blaming everyone except his own administration for a policy he could instantly reverse, blasting the media today. >> they are helping these smugglers and these traffickers like nobody would believe. they know it, they know exactly what they're doing. and it should be stopped. >> reporter: now in the next hour the president is going up to capitol hill to meet with

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house republicans, a previously scheduled meet to talk about immigration bills but the question remains an it is an open one, what would the president support. yesterday officials here at the white house said he doesn't want a small fix. a narrow fix just on family separation or part of a larger plan. that includes the $25 billion for his border wall. unlikely to get that. but, jake, the question today, is the president going to get an earful or not? are representatives like republicans going to say this is not a partisan issue, it is not a republican or democrat issue, it is a right or wrong issue as she said in the statement. when the president goes to capitol hill and he talks and republicans listen and nothing happens. we'll see if that is different today because children, of course, are at stake. >> jeff zeleny at the white house. let me bring in the panel. mia, le me start with you. the president could stop this right now if he wanted to. co call jeff sessions and stay stop this, this is prosecutorial discretion and he don't have to

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prosecute every person and separate the families. capitol hill can do it. will they? >> that is the big question. we'll see what comes out of this meeting that the president is going to have on the house side. there are a couple of bills floating around. they have some people saying it would -- some people say it wouldn't fix this and any number of bills on the senate side floating around. there is a feinstein proposal and one i think heidi heitkamp has a proposal and ted cruz. so we'll see. the big question is what the president is going to do. is he going to say this narrow fix as jeff reported, a narrow fix isn't good enough and then go for a bigger bill but we know what would happen with the bigger bills, we've been here before when they try to do border security or the four pillars the present wanted in a big comprehensive immigration bill and that went nowhere. and we do know the president has dug in on this and is blaming capitol hill. >> simone and scott, we have to take a quick break. in moments president trump

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in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. breaking news. just into cnn on the family separations at border and the white house decision to implement the zero-tolerance policy prompting it all. according to a source talking to cnn, the department of homeland security discussed this policy in the early months of the trump administration as a deterrent to illegal immigration but it was bagged over a fear of backlash. the exact same backlash president trump and his administration are experiencing right now. i'm back with the panel. scott, we are still on this story, this controversy and now we have even more republicans, the entire senate republican conference saying, we don't want this to be going on. >> and the good news is the senate republicans realize it is a p.r. problem for the republican party and they want to do something about it legislatively. the trouble is i'm not sure why the white house would sign off on a narrow fix if the president

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could fix it himself, why would he sign a bill doing what he could already do himself. if i were the white house, i might want more. and that is what we're look for tonight. if the president goes up to capitol hill, meeting with the house republicans an asked them to pass a more robust immigration bill with more in it than just a fix for the kids then that goes over to the senate and then what happens? what i hear from the senate is that the circumstances over there are to different than in february. they still don't have all of the republicans together on a comprehensive plan. so the politics of this tonight are still murky, although leader mcconnell thinks they zig when the democrats thought they would zag by unifying around the desire to end this policy. >> that just made an important point. they still don't have all of the republicans together and i remind everybody that the entirety of the democratic senate caucus is united to stop this horrific separation of family and children at the border but the republicans can't even get on the same page and so when you see the president time after time and folks in the administration trotting out and saying the democrats could stop

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this when the -- their own republican caucus is not united they are not together. this is at the feet and on the hands of the republican party. >> i will say simone, the democrats are unified on the feinstein bill which the republicans characterize as nothing more than catfying and catch and release. you'll see this revisit joe manchin and senator donnelly and heitkamp in the -- >> all of the senate democrats. and catch and release is crossing the border illegally and saying come back for the court date and they often do not. i want to play some sound, nia. president trump threatened to cut aid to countries that allow this -- this flow of illegal immigration. >> when countries abuse us by sending their people up, not their best, we're not going to give any more aid to those countries. why the hell should we? why should we? >> i'm not an expert on this

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issue. but most of the people it seems to me that are flooding and crossing the border are individuals who are either fleeing poverty or gang violence or completely dysfunctional government or domestic abuse. they are not being sent by the government of honduras. >> right. but this is donald trump's rhetoric. and this is been his rhetoric for a while. in that in his speech, when he announced he was running for president, that was the idea that somehow mexico was sending killers and rapists and murderers. so this is part and parcel of trumpism. this idea that there are bad savage people outside of the country, muslim for instance and talked about them in disparaging ways and people from african countries and as well as people from countries south of the border, so this idea that there is something that americans have to fear from folks from other countries is part of trumpism. as much as him talking about tariffs is part of trumpism and that is why he's doubling down. you can't have trump if all of a sudden he's welcoming people to

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the country in a more humane way because he talks about them in such dehumanizing terms. >> and simone, scott expressed frustration with this, the fact that the administration, everybody is on a different page. one of the questions is was this even a new policy. of course it was a new policy but the administration denied that it was. the white house in a tweet denied it was. take a listen to an official with the department of health and human services on a call with reporters earlier today. >> this policy is relatively new. we are still working through the experience of reunifying kids with their parents after adjudication. >> this policy arelatively new. >> they are not on the same page. folks like myself should repeat it as many times as possible that the white house owns this policy. this is a trump administration new policy. the obama administration was not doing exactly this. the obama administration immigration policy in some respects was nefarious but not

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this. the policy in my opinion was still way more humane than the trump administration. what we're seeing is something unprecedented that we haven't seen out of the last two presidents and something that the trump administration can stop. the last point that i'll make, the folks fleeing the countries, honduras and guatemala, the situation in the countries, the united states has been implicit in creating unsettling governments and so for donald trump to say the governments are sending their worst people to the united states, that is actually not true. the united states has played a key role in upsetting the apple cart in many of the countries. >> do you want to -- >> i think there are some bad people trying to come here and the american people expect the government to try to screen out the bad people but the reality is they are not all bad. many are fleeing bad governments. and bad situations. and the reality is where u.s. foreign aid is most useful in places where they are unstable and if they had stable places to live and economy, they wouldn't want to come here.

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they're fleeing danger. america is worth the risk so i don't agree with the idea of cutting off foreign aid to countries already in horrific shape. >> one of the arguments behind foreign aid to provide funding so there is hope in guatemala or honduras so you don't have that coming into the country. we have much more ahead. stay with us. we'll be right back. ...ancestrydna can pinpoint where your ancestors are from... ...and the paths they took, to a new home. could their journey inspire yours? order your kit at ancestrydna.com.

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father has his child by himself. we met the man in mcallen after released and promising to come back for a court date. we accompanied him to a bus station as he heads to florida. he was not subjected to the zero-tolerance policy which is raising many questions, exactly who is and why he was among the lucky ones. he believes it is because he didn't have a criminal record and his first time he entered the u.s. illegally. the meantime, mr. gonzalez telling us about the situation back in el salvador saying many people there and many parents preparing to make the journey to the united states, who have no idea about this policy. >> translator: in my country i wasn't know fi-- wasn't notifie of this policy. had i known, i wouldn't have risked my son's life and stayed in my country. >> reporter: he was separated from his 7-year-old son by his side for a day and a half. it was certainly extremely painful, however he certainly is

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grateful that he at least has his child with him today and they told us about the situation inside of the shelters, places we've seen through video and pictures released by the government and also we've heard from some of the lawmakers who toured the facilities. these two individuals who we spoke to here on the streets describing some of the conditions there as inhumane before they were finally released and now headed to florida. but just goes to show you, after living and working on this border for many years, i could tell you there are very different dynamics here at play and some of those that are subjected to short-term separation and those who are criminally charged and subjected to long-term separation but those children don't know the difference. >> those images, the father holding his son's hand looked like he would never let go of that hand again. thank you so much for bringing that story to us. we have breaking news into cnn about the fbi agent who sent the texts critical about president trump during the campaign. stay with us.

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more breaking news. now cnn has learned that fbi agent peter strzok known for the text messages about trump that surfaces, he was escorted from the fbi building on friday. laura jarrett is breaking the story for us right now. laura? >> so what we know is that peter strzok, the special agent that worked on the clinton e-mail probe and the russia investigation is still employed by escorted out of the building on friday as he is facing professional responsibility investigation stemming from some of the findings detailed in last week's inspector general report. we remember that lengthy report z -- detailing text messages between strzok and lisa page, including one that -- the inspector general found problematic sent in august of

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2016 where he said we'll stop him in reference to trump getting elected. now of course the report overall suggested that the specific investigation decisions reviewed in terms of the prosecutors decisions were not affected by bias but the inspector general said when it came to those text messages he couldn't say with confidence that his decisions were free from bias. now earlier today his lawyer put out on op ed suggesting that despite the president's tweets about strzok being a sick loser, that he's a patriot. jake. >> laura jarrett with that breaking news. and also breaking, minutes ago, president trump's former fixer michael cohen plans to hire a new powerhouse attorney. cnn goria borger joins us with this news. who is this guy and does this mean that his legal strategy, he's under criminal investigation bit u.s. attorney's office, that it is changing? >> it might mean it is changing. it might mean he's more willing

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to cooperate. the attorney is guy petrillo and a former chief of the criminal division of the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan and somebody who was an assistant u.s. attorney in the southern district of new york from 1990 until 1997. and of course the southern district of new york is the place where michael cohen is being investigated. we are told that perhaps not all of the paperwork is done yet that michael cohen has been meeting with mr. petrillo and that -- that he is likely to represent him. and clearly, i think, jake, what this means is that michael cohen wants to talk to prosecutors. and we've heard -- we heard this last week, that he was confused about his relationship with donald trump. that he's feeling isolated by the president. and by hiring somebody with real

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ties to the southern district of new york, i think you have to read between the lines here and say michael cohen wants to talk. >> gloria borger with that breaking news. thank you. our panel is here. first with peter strzok being removed from the fbi building and what do you make of this and the timing? >> i'm glad he was. because the i.g. report sent a powerful message to half of the country that supports donald trump that there is bias in some people. i don't mean all people but a few people in this report including strzok doesn't have bias against trump but against everyone who supports trump. some of the messages said trump voters, uneducated, lazy, i could smell the trump voters. that was heard loud and clear in middle america and they're wondering if we can get equal justice out of the government. so him being removed is well received by those wondering are the folks who hold these views

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that are reprehensible unbias. >> they think it affected his decision not to prosecute hillary clinton but he withholds comment and the inspector general suspected strzok there might be bias in the decision to not open the anthony wiener computer as immediately as possible. they say that he prioritized the russia investigation over that. >> yeah, well clearly peter strzok has strong feelings about donald trump and the campaign at the time. i think what is most important to note here, is that donald trump was under investigation the entire -- entirety of 2016 and we didn't know about it. but we knew about the hillary clinton investigation and knew about the laptop and we knew then director comey trotted out there knowing that hillary was nefarious and irresponsible and republicanless but we didn't know about donald trump. so if there was such a deep state bias in the fbi hell bents

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on taking down donald trump, why don't we know about the investigation. i think it is a reach to note that a couple of text messages from two folks indicate a large -- a systemwide agency-wide bias. it is in the report. there are numerous fbi employees who expressed the views. if we were sitting here and reading messages from fbi employees that said the exact same words about barack obama voters, you would be outraged and so would i and we should all be because these elected people should not be meddling in the election system this way and hold the views of the fellow americans. >> i agree that folks shouldn't hold these type of views ab that is a separate conversation about getting to a place of understanding and civility where folks could have different views and still have a conversation. but barack obama wouldn't be under fbi investigation. now you told me they were text mess ajz about hillary clinton, i would be this is very clear bias. they had a whole investigation and tried to take this lady down but that is not what we have. we have text messages about donald trump, frankly a lot of

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people had things to stay about donald trump in 2016 and text messages who have not been tried out in front of the entirety of the american people. but i'm saying if the deep state was out to get him, why don't we know about the investigation. >> i'm less worried about what they thought about the candidate and more worried about what they think about the every day americans who support their candidates. their views on fellow americans are repug nantz. >> absolutely. >> how could you mete out justice fairly for all americans if you hate half of the country. >> are we going to talk about the fbi and labelling of black lives matter as extremist and [ inaudible ] came to his house and left a message talking about call me. so the fbi clearly has some very nefarious feelings about many people in this country but does that mean there is a deep state conspiracy to take down donald trump, no. >> stick around. we have more to talk about. much more on the fast-paced hour of breaking news. stay with us. i'm 85 years old in a job where

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more on the story breaking this hour. could mean trouble for president trump. his former fixer and long time attorney michael cohen planning to hire a new powerhouse attorney. i want to bring in phil mudd to get his perspective on why this might be. gloria borger reading between the lines, cohen expressing concern publicly through intermediaries he and trump are no longer close, getting a new powerhouse attorney and gloria suggesting this means probably he will start cooperating with the southern district of new york u.s. attorney. >> sure, if you are looking at the initial reports about the background of the attorneys, he's hiring not just a attorney

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but a counselor and they have to deal with federal prosecutors in saying this is how we'll negotiate a deal. why else would you hire an attorney that has so much experience bealing with federal prosecutors. i say counselor because there is a accept piece of how do we negotiate with the feds and that is the personal piece. if you sit down with michael cohen and say, look, homey, here is what will happen. some of had -- some of it will not be good but i have to counsel you in terms of what is appropriate and not appropriate and what the boundaries are in the playing field. it is a tough time and i'm reading this saying you could bet as much's want to in vegas, le plead to something. >> and to reiterate for viewers at home, the fact there was a search warrant approved for a attorney, michael cohen or any attorney, his house, his hotel, his office, that is extraordinary for a search warrant to be approved and they would have had to risen above a burden of evidence this was

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necessarily needed in order for it to be granted. >> there is a couple of pieces. the judge said attorney clients privilege is broken and the feds want to go into a lawyer's house and not only his house but office and hotel room, this better be really good. the second thing is, look, judges aren't idiots. especially federal judges. the judge is saying, oh, hold on a second. this is donald trump's attorney and this is all over jake tapper, i'm on double secret probation if i get this one wrong. so i think they're looking at this -- when i look at this i said the feds must have shown up for the search warrant with stuff really nasty and now we're seeing the end game where michael cohen is realizing this is going to be bad with the feds. >> and we know scott jennings, that we -- we don't know what this has to do with. there is no evidence it has anything to do with the russia investigation, in fact the contrary, it was referred from mueller to the southern district of new york because it wasn't in the purview. but this might have serious ramifications any way. even if it is just about being a

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shady fixer in new york city in the real estate world. >> i know lawyers who say there is no way mueller would have let this go off to that other u.s. attorney's office if it was jermaine to the russia investigation. but we're just speculating. all i know is this, i'm a husband and father, i would do anything under god's green earth to save my family from the ramifications of being under the thumb of the feds like this. he has the same -- he has those things to worry about. and i just -- i don't know too many people who wouldn't put their family first if they were facing long prison sentence or massive financial ramifications. >> and look, as a general note, i don't know anything president trump as a real estate dealner new york city has done that is illegal. but that is a shady business. >> it is a, and folks are looking at, in terms of michael cohen, his personal shady business dealings with taxi kabz and things like that. we know about the stormy daniels thing that tipped this whole thing off and we know that michael cohen has been by donald trump's side for decades as his

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fixer, as a confidant. sometimes playing overlapping role in the campaign. and even though you hear rudy giuliani saying there is nothing that michael cohen would know. he's been side by side with donald trump for decades dealing in terms of real estate and all sorts of other things that at some point we'll know about. >> cohen would know more than rudy giuliani to be frank. >> right. >> i think at this point this table knows more than rudy giuliani if we want to put it out there. jake, look, michael cohen is the guy that donald trump called to get it done by any means necessary. i think that by my means is coming back to bite him in the butt. >> and breaking news. a white house deputy chief of staff joe hagen in charge of planning the singapore summit with kim jong-un, leaving the white house. i want to bring in cnn senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny bringing us the news. >> we are hearing joe haggin a fixture in the west wing because he was a veteran of previous administrations. he is telling the trump white

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house, telling the president that he is leaving the west wing. his last day friday july 6th. he is leaving the west wing. and one of the big accomplishments, one of the big challenges was setting up that singapore summit just last week. he's known as a logistics man. someone who is really -- can make things happen and events happen, meetings happen so he was on the ground in singapore working from -- all of the small details of the visuals to getting both sides on track and together. but joe hagin is telling the white house he is leaving. this is what i believe and expect to be the beginning of some churn here. some more churn we should say in the west wing as the summer months continue and into the fall months. a variety of oinitia-- official look outside of the white house and across the government, but it is been fairly stable here in terms of the trump administration which is had record numbers of turnover in

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cabinet secretaries and top aide positions. but i'm told that that is likely to change gradually into the summer months here. but joe hagin announcing his leave. done on very friendly terms. the president is wishing him wfl. i'm told by an official we'll have a statement very soon on that. but we certainly know that joe hagin is leaving and one of the adults in the west wing and knows how this place operates and he is leaving in about two weeks. >> jeff zeleny at the white house. bringing us that breaking news about the deputy chief of staff at the white house leaving. you worked with joe hagin at the bush white house. i have to say, one of the struggles for this new administration made up of outsiders has been how to figure make government work and function and he was a big part of. >> that this is a big hit for the president. >> he is one of the most experienced, working for bush and been around a long time and knows how the military part of the white house works and how

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the advanced part of the white house and how the levers -- the logistical levers of it works. he's a great american and done a great service for three administrations and so i'm glad this is happening on friendly terms but it is big shoes to fill when you have someone with his experience taking off. >> and we're seeing other people from the white house, the legislative director will leave and this quiet, slow purge of white house communications staffers. almost as if there is -- i don't know what kind of blue wave there will be or if there is one but it sounds as if people will try to get out before november. >> and who do they get in those shoes. you talk about show hagin with knowledge of washington. can they get folks in there who are of the same caliber of joe hagin over the next couple of months as you see folks leave, you mentioned marc short and perhaps sarah sanders has a couple of more months and that is out there with his deputy and so what happens to refill the positions. >> and there are stories about

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how they're having trouble filling slots at the white house. and kellyanne conway went on tv and suggested people start sending in resumes. normally that doesn't happen. there is always people that want to work for a white house. >> you have to -- get it how you live it. and in this -- look, in this climate, it is a tough climate. i'm somebody that works in communications. i'm clearly not trying to sign up for the president trump white house but if there was a democratic president, that was similar to or acting like donald trump, i would not want to go into this white house. it is a tough environment. you're putting your credibility on the line and your families are getting involved and you put in a lot of long hours for a little bit of show. so i'm not surprised people don't want to go in. i'm concerned about what happens -- >> the argument is it is public service to the country. serving in the white house is one of the most honored things you could do in our government. i think they'll be able to attract people and having worked there i would say -- >> let me ask phil --

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>> it matters. >> because phil, you have ties with people in the national security community. 2017 there was somebody that i knew who was being asked to be the national security adviser and he told somebody he wouldn't go into the trump administration because it was a -- and all use a paraphrase, a poop sandwich is how he described being at the trump white house. do you think it is tough for people in your feerld, national security, to go into the trump administration. they don't want to. >> they don't want to. a couple of reasons why. number one we have the phrase at the agency, clm. career limited move. you go into this administration and you're tainted for life. and people outside of the beltway don't understand -- i did 25 years and one of the years was at the white house on the national security council, this isn't just about service to the country. >> worked for a lot of bosses and after five and ten and 15 years i would never work for again. you could make the personal sacrifice whether you are republican or democrat for the greater gain, but i'm not working for this guy. too much trouble. >> everyone stick around. how president trump's recent comments on ti

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install electric vehicle charging stations, and become more energy efficient. pg&e has allowed us to be the most sustainable organization we can be. any time you help a customer, it's a really good feeling. it's especially so when it's a customer that's doing such good and important work for the environment. together, we're building a better california. in our money lead, threats of a trump trade war causing stocks to sink. the dow dropped 287 points and as the two largest economies in the world face off against each other, you are caught in the middle. the president's top adviser on trade told reporters that his plans are demonstrating a courage but tom foreman explains the looming trade war could affect american's future job and security. >> reporter: on the front line of the rapidly escalating trade war, american companies are bracing for battle as the

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chinese accuse the white house of extreme pressure and blackmailing over the latest talk of more tariffs. and president trump sounds the charge. >> we're going to take care of our manufacturers and our manufacturing jobs. >> reporter: the president said the chinese are stealing american intellectual property using it to create cheap knockoffs and selling them back to u.s. manufacturers. a list of 800 items covered bit new tariff which officially gos into effect on july 6th is heavy with transistors and touchscreens and more and that may help american companies that make such components, but could hurt others that rely on importing them. and while few consumer goods are on the list, american shoppers could suffer too, as manufacturers pass on costs and jobs come under fire. in 2002, george w. bush tried to help the steel industry with steep tariffs on imports.

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only to see by one estimate 200,000 jobs lost when other companies that needed that material cut back. some in president trump's corner are betting against that, even as the chinese say they are ready for an all-out trade war if it comes. >> i think china will back down and lower the tariffs and that is more jobs for americans and that is the end game here. >> reporter: and hanging over it all is the effort to dial down north korea's nuclear program. china is critical to that effort. but now north korean leader kim jong-un has once again met with chinese president xi jinping and questions are rising about how much china even wants to help america now amid such tough talk from trump. >> we need protection. everybody is taking advantage of us. >> reporter: so this move toward a strongly protectionist measure is a very big bet by the president. with american businesses and jobs and security all on the table. jake. >> tom forman, thanks.

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follow me on facebook and twitter at jake tapper and tweet the show at "the lead." and we read them. that is it for "the lead." i turn you over to wolf blitzer next door in "the situation room." thanks for watching. happening now, breaking news. republican mutiny. president trump is about to huddle with house republicans as a growing number of gop lawmakers voice opposition to his policy of separating undocumented children from their parents at the border. will the president derail two major immigration bills up for a house vote this week. lawyering up. a source tells cnn that mr. trump's long time personal lawyer michael cohen plans to hire an experienced trial lawyer in new york as cohen contemplates whether to fight charges he may face from the criminal investigation he's under or whether to flip on the president. returning fire. president trump orders u.s. trade officials to identify an additional